Devouring the World to Salvation

Humans in 2270 were categorised into four groups. The heroes, Inhumans who chose to protect their last known stronghold, were at the very top. They were the only ones who had the powers needed to stop the monsters. Next were the leaders. They controlled the Citadel, the only place on earth that humans could live in. They were the politicians of the world who moved the people and the rich who kept the money flowing. Third were the normal humans. Those who went on with their daily lives as if nothing had changed. And finally, are the hoarders. The ones the world had rejected and ravaged what remained of the earth after turning.

"Hey Mrs C, I got you that new baking tin you wanted," Macey yelled out in front of the house. The door opened and an old lady walked out slightly surprised, "Goodness child, did you cross the wall to get it?" The old lady asked, taking the tin from the young girl and handing her a small dirty bag. Placing her hand over her lips she said, "you gotta keep it a secret Mrs C." She grinned as she stuffed the small bag inside her backpack. Smiling, she winked at the old lady waving goodbye. Mrs C chuckled as she watched her walk down the streets.

Hoarders lived in Emodet, a town outside the Citadel walls that excluded them from the rest of the humans. The wall was there to keep the monsters and hoarders out of the city, to protect the rest of humanity. Hoarders weren't human. They, after all, were the ones most likely to turn into monsters or be influenced by them. As their desires grew within their hearts there were those that ended up giving in to them and got consumed. The clearest way to tell if someone was going to turn into a monster was their eyes. Their eyes would turn into a dark shade of purple and the mana around them was always a dark murky red. As if staring into a dark swamp drenched in blood. Anyone could turn into a monster but hoarders, who hoard their negative emotions and are easily influenced by them, were the ones who mainly turned. Only the heroes were safe from being corrupted.

Macey pulled up her hood as she walked through their makeshift town.  She knew every crook and cranny that could hide a human. It was necessary to know where to hide because of the raids. Once the bells rang, you needed to hide or the monsters would get you and if the monsters didn't, one of the heroes would.

Monster waves always appeared at unknown intervals to attack the Citadel. As they passed through their ghastly town, they devoured anything and everything in sight, destroying hoarder houses in the process. The walls protected the rest of humanity, only the hoarders were left to survive the monster waves by themselves.

It wasn't like the hoarders had a choice. Other than the Citadel, the rest of the world was believed to be corrupted and only monsters lived there. The best place to build their homes was right next to the walls. Being closer to the Citadel allowed them to be able to survive, but that was only if you knew the right way to do it.

Macey had no clue when her birthday was so at the beginning of every year she incremented her age. This year she was 19 years old. Her parents had died during a monster wave when she was only six. She was the only one tiny enough to crawl into the sewers and hide from the monsters. She watched as her parents got devoured by gronklins. Huge bear-like monsters that once they see a human, they'd open their pig heads as wide as they could and chomp on the bodies they picked up. Whether dead or alive it didn't matter to them. Their intelligence was relatively low but their strength and numbers was what made them difficult to deal with. They always moved around in large groups.

The 'heroes' who came to take care of the monsters weren't any better. Macey watched them fight. They didn't care who got caught in the crossfire as long as the monsters ended up dead. She learnt one thing watching them, hoarder lives don't matter to the Citadel. That's how she began to use the sewers as her way to sneak into the Citadel.

As she grew up, her body only got taller by just a bit. At 4'8, she was just the right height to fit through the sewers. Any taller and she wouldn't be able to go through.

I wonder what she gave me this time round, Macey thought with a chuckle. It wasn't safe to open her bag in the middle of the streets. She decided to check the contents of her payment at home.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

"Aaah!!"

"Mon...monster wave!!!"

"There're monsters coming. EVERYONE RUN!!!"

"Hurry up!"

"Aah...no...nooo, I don't wanna die!!!"

"GET out of the way YOU LITTLE SHIT!!"

People yelled and screamed as the sounds of the bells filled the entire village. "Shit! Shit!" Macey cursed as she scrambled to get as far away as possible from the streets. Drawing out the dagger she had tucked on her back, she sprinted through alleys jumping over trash cans hoping to get to her hideout first.

Crash!

The monsters were already in Emodet. She could hear them causing a ruckus behind her. Behind…, Macey skidded to a halt and glanced behind her. "Fuck! Mrs C you better not be in that mess." She turned back and ran towards her house. She held the dagger in front of her just as a monster jumped out of the ruble. "I don't have time for this!" The monster looked like a giant rat with razor sharp claws on its hands and feet. She blocked the Elom's claw with her dagger and got pushed back by its sheer strength. Without giving it any time to counterattack, she skid in between its legs and severed one of its tendons. The monster collapsed onto one knee and Macey knew this was her chance. Without any second thoughts she jumped onto its back and lodged the dagger deep into its neck. It moved frantically trying to grab her but it couldn't reach her, its arms were too short. She kept on stabbing the Elom's neck until it collapsed flat onto the ground and stopped moving. She sighed as she sat on its back trying to catch her breath. Wiping the blood off her face with her sleeve, she wiped the dagger on the monster's back and jumped off.  Hitching her bag higher on her shoulders, she thought out loud, "I'm almost there Mrs C, just give me a sec," and continued running towards her house.

Mrs C was one of the few elderly people she liked. She took care of Macey whenever she could ever since they met. The old woman couldn't understand why a 12 year old was always so wary of the people around her. She was surprised to find out she was a strong fighter and yet still managed to be kind and help out a few people in the village. Everyone knew that the strong didn't care about the weak. But she was different. Rumours on the streets were that if she liked you, then you were sure to get the good stuff she got over in the Citadel first. Being the only one who could get into the Citadel through the sewers, it built up her reputation as a  peddler and the authenticity of her goods.

This was all due to the fact that the sewers beneath the Citadel were a maze. They had traps and magic cast onto the pipes to cause confusion to any who dared to pass through them. Somehow the magic didn't affect Macey at all. So she decided to memorise all the routes. It took her a while. The first time she decided to explore farther from her safe zone, she got lost in the tunnels for weeks. Her food supplies had dwindled to her last stale bread and her water pouch was almost empty. Macey had almost given up believing that she would be stuck in the tunnels. Then she discovered a manhole that led her to the streets of Sartheil, one of the middle class provinces within the walls. The only place she could think of searching for food was the trash cans. There was no way a hoarder that had entered the city walls illegally would go beg on the streets. That's how she discovered that they threw away things that could be of interest to other hoarders. She brought a few back and that's how her business started.